http://rudaw.net/NewsDetails.aspx?pageid=25259
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http://middleeasternwomenconference.wordpress.com/
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on Saturday, April 14, 2012. THE GREAT AMERICAN WRITE-INed its 27th anniversary At this free annual event, more than 40 different organizations and advocacy groups were represented with information regarding some of today’s most vital issues, including education, health care, human and civil rights and the environment. Attendees were invited to visit the various tables and then voice their opinions by writing letters and postcards to government and corporate decision-makers, in the hopes of bringing about constructive change. The attendees participated in this exciting example of democracy at work!
Kurdish Angel in Halloween
We celebrate this day for matter of integration in this society. For its beautiful and interesting custom. In my work place we all dress up. It has been 10 years,with different customs. This year I became Kurdish Angel.
For whom dont know much about Halloween here it is:
Halloween or Hallowe’en (a contraction of All Hallows' Eve) is an annual holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night preceding All Hallows Day. Much like Day of the Dead celebrations, the holiday has ancient origins tied to seasonal change, harvest time, and festivals honoring the dead. Typical Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"), attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
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Green Kurdistan
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London
Conference Addresses Plight of Kurdish Women in Iran
5/11/2013
“What changes there have been are
small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still
face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from
traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” Photo by Narin Afraseab.
By George Richards
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face
a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal
society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third
annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran,
Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for
and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing
expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s
two-day conference.
A range of speakers including
Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of
self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of
torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the
conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built
as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association
known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish
women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,”
said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be
identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the
Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and
Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series
of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by
the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing,
whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their
wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully
on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their
wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the
men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries
in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and
painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of
women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist
when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting
to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be
lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and
then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist
recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she
won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for
Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching
Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks
explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act
of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland
where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells
ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in
London.
This year's conference was the
third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with
organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to
Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers
discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are
small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still
face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from
traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to
stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us
too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support
this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept
these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
- See more at:
http://rudaw.net/NewsDetails.aspx?pageid=25259#sthash.xILIV36o.dpuf
| World |
London Conference Addresses Plight of Kurdish Women in Iran
5/11/2013
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada,
an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their
treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish
attitudes towards women,” Photo by Narin Afraseab.
By George Richards
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
| World |
London Conference Addresses Plight of Kurdish Women in Iran
5/11/2013
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada,
an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their
treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish
attitudes towards women,” Photo by Narin Afraseab.
By George Richards
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
http://middleeasternwomenconference.wordpress.com/
| World |
London Conference Addresses Plight of Kurdish Women in Iran
5/11/2013
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada,
an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their
treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish
attitudes towards women,” Photo by Narin Afraseab.
By George Richards
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
| World |
London Conference Addresses Plight of Kurdish Women in Iran
5/11/2013
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada,
an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their
treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish
attitudes towards women,” Photo by Narin Afraseab.
By George Richards
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
LONDON – “Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference.
A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
“The conference focuses on Kurdish women in Iran, because they face more oppression than Kurdish women elsewhere,” said Giti, one of the organizers, who like the others did not wish to be identified by full name for fear of retribution by the Iranian regime.
The meeting was organized by the Kurdish Women's Project, a London-based charity established in 1998, and Navend, a Swedish organization involved in financing and supporting the series of conferences on Iranian-Kurdish women's issues.
“In Iran, the treatment of Kurds by the mullahs' regime is awful; beheadings, hangings, stoning, lashing, whippings,” Owen said. “And then people wonder why Kurdish men abuse their wives. As an analogy, in industrial-era Britain, men who were treated awfully on the factory floor would return home drunk on pay-day and beat their wives. In both cases, the root problem lies with the treatment of the men,” she added.
Iran ranks 130 out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index 2013.
Persheng Warzandegan, a sculptor and painter, told Rudaw how she experienced first-hand the oppression of women artists in Iranian Kurdistan.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was young, about 10 or 11 years old. One day, I showed a painting to my teacher – he struck me across the face because he thought I must be lying. So he made me sit down and repeat the painting there and then. My teacher gave me no support or encouragement,” the artist recalled.
But she was undaunted: Aged 13, she won a prize for young artists on television and in the late 1980s left Iran for Holland to work as an artist. Her troubles did not end on reaching Europe: in May 2000, her studio in Enschede was destroyed in a fireworks explosion, and three years later another studio was burned down in a random act of arson.
Warzandegan still lives in Holland where she teaches fine art and produces abstract art. She also sells ceramics and jewelry, a selection of which was exhibited at the conference in London.
This year's conference was the third: Previous meetings have been held in Iraqi Kurdistan and in Sweden, with organizers hinting that next year's will return to Scandinavia, probably to Norway.
Over the years, had the organizers discerned an improvement in the lives of Kurdish women in Iran?
“What changes there have been are small,” said Kwestan Omarzada, an organizer from Navend. “Kurdish women still face problems from their treatment by the Iranian government and from traditional Kurdish attitudes towards women,” she told Rudaw.
“To make real changes, we need to stand together, all Kurdish women, but we need Kurdish men to stand by us too. There are men, perhaps upstairs here in the building, who support this conference and our plans for Kurdish women; but they would not accept these things for their own women,” Omarzada said.
Call For Participation: DÖKH’s 1st Middle East Women’s Conference, Amed (Diyarbakır), Turkey, 31 May-2 June 2013
Source: DÖKH (Demokratik Özgür Kadın Hareketi)
13/03/2013
Dear Women,
The Middle Eastern geography that we live in goes through an immense and rapid process of political, social and economic change. While the systems predicated on denial and massacre of peoples, cultures, and historical and social values rapidly disintegrate, the stance and role of women in this disintegration process pose historical importance.
The Middle Eastern geography that we live in goes through an immense and rapid process of political, social and economic change. While the systems predicated on denial and massacre of peoples, cultures, and historical and social values rapidly disintegrate, the stance and role of women in this disintegration process pose historical importance.
Both the existing systems of status quo and structures emerging anew fail to go beyond the approaches that disregard women, entrench her absolute state of slavery, and prison her to death by perpetuating denial, violence, torture, rape and massacre.
In this process of change and transformation, the struggle that we, the Middle Eastern women wage, bears such value and importance that will seal the fate of not only our geography, but also of us as women. The more the struggle organized and waged in the leadership of women for a free and democratic Middle East and then life is extended, the more it may gain strength and accomplish its aimed results. The structures and systems where women cannot participate in decision-making and representative processes and/or express themselves directly and freely, bring tremendous threats and losses with regards to the entirety of rights and gains the women obtain/strive to obtain through their proud resistance.
In the face of these facts, specifying how the women’s color, language, rights, will, identity and gender justice shall find a place in the newly emerging systems and how to wage a struggle for this purpose, along with weaving the lines of common resistance, come up as undeferrable, urgent necessity in the existing state of affairs, for us, the women in the Middle East as a whole.
To this end, Democratic Freewomen Movement organizes the “1st Middle East Women’s Conference” on 31 May-2 June, 2013, in Amed (Diyarbakır), with the motto “Woman, Life, Freedom” (in Kurdish: “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi”). The conference aims to:
In this process of change and transformation, the struggle that we, the Middle Eastern women wage, bears such value and importance that will seal the fate of not only our geography, but also of us as women. The more the struggle organized and waged in the leadership of women for a free and democratic Middle East and then life is extended, the more it may gain strength and accomplish its aimed results. The structures and systems where women cannot participate in decision-making and representative processes and/or express themselves directly and freely, bring tremendous threats and losses with regards to the entirety of rights and gains the women obtain/strive to obtain through their proud resistance.
In the face of these facts, specifying how the women’s color, language, rights, will, identity and gender justice shall find a place in the newly emerging systems and how to wage a struggle for this purpose, along with weaving the lines of common resistance, come up as undeferrable, urgent necessity in the existing state of affairs, for us, the women in the Middle East as a whole.
To this end, Democratic Freewomen Movement organizes the “1st Middle East Women’s Conference” on 31 May-2 June, 2013, in Amed (Diyarbakır), with the motto “Woman, Life, Freedom” (in Kurdish: “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi”). The conference aims to:
- Elicit a perspective of common stance and struggle based on the comprehensive evaluation of the lived political and social developments in the region from the viewpoint of women,
- Arrive at a perspective of effective struggle against racist nation-state structures, the hegemonic capitalist system, and problematic approaches to women by religions and political Islam which are instrumentalized by tyrannical powers,
- Weave the lines of a common democratic women’s struggle and enhance the existing organizational capabilities by extending women’s will and struggle for freedom from local to the regional level,
- Create a common ground for discussion, acquaintance and sharing of mutual experiences in the current process of regional reshaping, with a view to take part in this newly emerging system as Middle Eastern women, with the rights, color, will and identity, as well as justice, of our own.
On behalf of DÖKH (Democratic Freewomen Movement)
Aysel Tuğluk Gültan Kışanak
DTK Co-Chair BDP Co-Chair
(Democratic Society Congress) (Peace and Democracy Party)
bdpwomandiplomacy@yahoo.com.tr
Aysel Tuğluk Gültan Kışanak
DTK Co-Chair BDP Co-Chair
(Democratic Society Congress) (Peace and Democracy Party)
bdpwomandiplomacy@yahoo.com.tr
Draft Conference Agenda:
In memory of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan, Leyla Şaylemez…
1st MIDDLE EASTERN WOMEN’S CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Li Rojhelata Navîn de Jin, Jiyan, Azadi!
Dates: 31 May – 2 June, 2013
Place: Amed (Diyarbakır) / Turkey
Venue: To be determined
Languages: Kurmanji/Arabic/Turkish/Sorani/English
Hours: 9.00 am – 6.00 pm
Presentation Duration:10-12 minutes (for speakers), 5 minutes (for delegates)
The conference includes 3 topical sessions, one session held per day. Following the presentations, each session will also comprise a discussion section for expression of participant views.
The sessional topics proposed for the conference are as follows:
1st Day: May 31, 2013, Friday
The Social History of Women and the Construction of Gender Discrimination in the Middle East
In this session, with an aim to unravel the social history of women and to convict the construction of gender discrimination in the Middle East;
Place: Amed (Diyarbakır) / Turkey
Venue: To be determined
Languages: Kurmanji/Arabic/Turkish/Sorani/English
Hours: 9.00 am – 6.00 pm
Presentation Duration:10-12 minutes (for speakers), 5 minutes (for delegates)
The conference includes 3 topical sessions, one session held per day. Following the presentations, each session will also comprise a discussion section for expression of participant views.
The sessional topics proposed for the conference are as follows:
1st Day: May 31, 2013, Friday
The Social History of Women and the Construction of Gender Discrimination in the Middle East
In this session, with an aim to unravel the social history of women and to convict the construction of gender discrimination in the Middle East;
- Women’s history in the Middle East,
- Construction of gender discrimination in the Middle East,
- The process of colonization and nationalism in the Middle East,
- Firm laicist systems instrumentalized by tyrannical powers and issues around political Islam’s problematic approach to women,
2nd Day: June 1, 2013, Saturday
The Women’s Movements Experience in the Middle East and its Role in Recent Political Changes
In this session, to provide a ground for achieving mutual recognition and understanding through sharing of the women’s movements experience;
The Women’s Movements Experience in the Middle East and its Role in Recent Political Changes
In this session, to provide a ground for achieving mutual recognition and understanding through sharing of the women’s movements experience;
- Women’s resistance role and their search of freedom in the revolutionary processes in the Middle East,
- Political constructs developing to the detriment of women’s rights in the process of change, and struggles against them,
- Women’s rights in the Middle East; issues around expression, participation, decision, and representaion in civil, political, and public life,
- Stoning to death, familialism, feodal appropriation, polygamy, female circumcision, seclusion, child marriage and other related issues in the Middle East,
- Neo-liberal politics of capitalist modernity on women,
3rd Day: June 2, 2013, Sunday
Common Problems Faced by Women’s Movement Struggles in the Middle East and Possible Solutions
In addition to the geographical and social commonalities experienced by women,
Common Problems Faced by Women’s Movement Struggles in the Middle East and Possible Solutions
In addition to the geographical and social commonalities experienced by women,
- Common organizational models,
- Structural problems (alieantion, miscommunication, etc.),
- Weaving and enhancement of common lines of struggle,
- How to imagine a democratic society model based on women,
are the topics proposed for discussion. Sessions are designed to promote a ground so as to develop forms of solidarity and struggle for proliferation of models that are sensitive to the gender-based requirements of justice, equality, democracy and freedom struggles.
Contact the organizing committee at: bdpwomandiplomacy@yahoo.com.tr
Contact the organizing committee at: bdpwomandiplomacy@yahoo.com.tr
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on Saturday, April 14, 2012. THE GREAT AMERICAN WRITE-INed its 27th anniversary At this free annual event, more than 40 different organizations and advocacy groups were represented with information regarding some of today’s most vital issues, including education, health care, human and civil rights and the environment. Attendees were invited to visit the various tables and then voice their opinions by writing letters and postcards to government and corporate decision-makers, in the hopes of bringing about constructive change. The attendees participated in this exciting example of democracy at work!
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Oct 31
Kurdish Angel in Halloween
We celebrate this day for matter of integration in this society. For its beautiful and interesting custom. In my work place we all dress up. It has been 10 years,with different customs. This year I became Kurdish Angel.
For whom dont know much about Halloween here it is:
Halloween or Hallowe’en (a contraction of All Hallows' Eve) is an annual holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night preceding All Hallows Day. Much like Day of the Dead celebrations, the holiday has ancient origins tied to seasonal change, harvest time, and festivals honoring the dead. Typical Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"), attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
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Green Kurdistan
